Second 'Freakonomics' outing sparks controversy, conversation

Even before it hit the bookstores, SuperFreakonomics was inciting scorn and outrage. That may have had something to do with its flashing-lights subtitle: “Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance.” This verbal torrent virtually stampeded reviewers toward the juicy parts. The authors...

Audio Column by Sukey Howard

You may be freaked out by listening to Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's fascinating bestseller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, but if you follow Levitt's carefully constructed, mind-stretching correlations, you will ultimately discover that you've been freaked in. If Levitt is a rogue, let's hope that "rogue" thinking and "rogue" analysis become...